WWE today announced financial results for it's third quarter ended
September 30, 2009. Revenues totaled $111.3 million and profit was $8.9
million, up from $5.3 million during the same period in 2008. This was
more to do increased television rights fees ($3.9 million) and cost
cutting than anything else. PPV buys were down 22 percent with
SummerSlam losing 108,000 buys from 2008. Consumer products declined 14
percent mainly due to drops in licensing and magazine publishing
revenue. Home Video showed a gain of $200,000 but that was mostly due to
promotional offers and a 20 percent reduction in DVD prices. As with the
last few quarters the profit didn't cover the dividend but they are
sitting on healthy cash reserves of approximately $230 million with
virtually no debt.

During the investors conference call Vince McMahon said he thought the
company had a good quarter. He pointed to an increase in average
attendance at live events (5,800 vs. 5,300) and television ratings as
his barometer. However, that doesn't stand up too well when you consider
they've run more overseas events with lower ticket prices comparable to
the last quarter, and also added the Superstars show on WGN, which
attributes to the overall increase in ratings. The Q&A portion of the
call mostly featured softball questions from analysts, to the point you
would think it's scripted, asking about utilizing archive footage from
the 70s and 80s, and WWE's partnership with The National Guard.

Vince did talk about Linda and Shane leaving the company. He said:
"We’ve lost Linda in terms of her CEO role of course which I have
assumed, she still sits on the Board. The other aspect of family, some
people perceive this to be a family business, which I do not. But
nonetheless, my son Shane as well has decided to pursue other
opportunities in the marketplace. Nonetheless, I have mentioned before
that the strength of our management team is stronger now than it has
ever been. And if your last name is McMahon or not, decisions are always
made on your abilities in terms of whatever position you hold now and/or
will in the future and be judged on your performance, not because your
last name is McMahon."

Vince also talked about a "revised film philosophy and practice" with
regards to WWE Studios, and confirmed launching a cable television
channel in the future, although he admitted they are very early in that
process. He said the new film philosophy was to concentrate on movies
with a $5 million budget and roll them out quickly direct-to-video
rather than produce big budget theatrical releases. In the financial
report it was hinted at that 12 Rounds with John Cena broke even but
they didn't post any revenue. During the call, WWE Chief Financial
Officer George Barrios mentioned The Marine 2 was coming out in December
and said they project WWE's future direct-to-video releases will surpass
breakeven profits.

WWE also revised it's business outlook, targeting average annual
earnings growth between 15 to 20 percent over the next three years. The
stock market reacted favorably to the results with the stock price
jumping 7.2 percent to $14.51 by the close of play.

"We believe we can achieve meaningful growth by strengthening our global
expansion and television distribution, leveraging our new partnership
with Mattel and continuing to improve operating efficiency," said Vince
McMahon in a press release. "Through disciplined cost management, we
expect our operating leverage to deliver outstanding earnings growth
with even moderate increases in revenue."



(credit: The Wrestling Globe Newsletter)